Toddler squeezes through White House fence

Aug. 8, 2014
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The North Lawn of the White House / Haraz N. Ghanbari, AP

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

Security officers briefly locked down the White House on Thursday night amid an alarm that someone tried to jump the fence along Pennsylvania Avenue -- only to discover that a toddler had squeezed through the iron bars.

The "fence baby" made his move around 8:10 p.m., as reporters waited to see if President Obama would make a statement about Iraq. Journalists spotted officers racing across the North Lawn.

Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan said of the child: "We were going to wait until he learned to talk to question him, but in lieu of that he got a timeout and was sent on [his] way with his parents."